Locking apparatus for dumb-waiter doors



J. HIRSHFELD. LOCKING APPARATUS FOR DUMB WAI T ER DOORS. APPLICATION FILEDi MAY 23, I919.

1,361,582, Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

UNITEO STATES JEROME HIRSHFELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LOCKING APPARATUS FOR DUMB-WAITER DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

Applicatiim fil ed May 23, 1919. Serial No. 299,199.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEROME HIRsHrnLD, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Imrovement in Looking Apparatus for Dumb- Vaiter Doors, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore so far as I am aware, much difficulty has been experienced by the tenants in apartment houses and apartment hotels as well as by the managers and super intendents and anitors thereof by the way in which dumb-waiter wells have been used for garbage, refuse and other similar waste articles in direct violation of the rules of such houses and to the inconvenience and detriment of both the tenants and the landlord. For example, in some instances, irrespective of the time of day or the use of the dumb-waiter, some tenants will feel privileged to dispose of garbage and other refuse by throwing the same on the dumb-waiter. The effects of this will be readily appreciated. The object of the present invention is to overcome this difiiculty and in carrying out the same, I propose 'to provide a series of latches or looks or similar devices placed within the well of a dumb-waiter and operative from the bottom of the well or shaft so that the dumb-waiter door cannot be opened from the kitchen or kitchenette or other room in an apartment in which the same may be located.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation illustrating diagrammatically a form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken at right angles to the position in which Fig. 1 is taken.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an electrical operating device for operating the latch locks, and

Fig. 4 is a similar View illustrating another form of electrical operation.

Referring to the drawing 10, 11 and 12 represent walls in which there is a well or dumb-Waiter shaft. In this well, I prefer to employ an additional or auxiliary wall or partition 13 providing in one side of the main well or shaft an auxiliary well indicated at 14. In one of the walls, the wall 10 is indicated, in spaced positions corresponding to the different floors of a building, there is a series of openings 15 each fitted with a frame 16 in which there is mounted a dumbwaiter door 17. On the room side of the wall, each door 17 may be provided with a latch or look 18 and as illustrated each door 17 is mounted on spring hinges 19 so that normally, the doors will be maintained in closed positions. 3

Within the dumb-waiter well and preferably mounted on the partition wall 13, I employ a series of brackets 20, one bracket being provided for each dumb-waiter door in the well. Associated with each bracket 20, is a lever arm which is pivotally mounted thereon as indicated at 21. One end 22 of the lever arm is made so as to run parallel with the partition 13 and the other lever arm 23 extends into the opening 15, and at the end of the arm 23 there is a hook 24 adapted to engage with a latch 25 placed on the inner side of the dumb-waiter door 17 so as to lock the door from the inside or the well side thereof.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, in order to operate these lever arms, I may employ a cord or chain 26 provided at one end at the bottom of the well with a handle 27 and running over a pulley 28 at'thenpper end of the well preferably mounted in the partition wall 13 and extending down through the auxiliary well 1 1 and provided at the bottom thereof with a weight 29 operating in a case 30 by means of a spring 31 or otherwise.

Now, as will be apparent, in the use of this apparatus, it will be impossible for the tenant on any floor to open the dumb-waiter door from the kitchen or other room in which it is placed until the janitor or other attendant has released the latch by which the door is locked on the inner side or within the well of the dumb-waiter. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the latches are 0 erated simultaneously by pulling on the andle 27. This draws the cord or chain 26, lowering the ends of the lever arms 22 and raising the lever arms 23 with the hooks thereon so as to disconnect the same from the latches with which they are associated to maintain the doors in their locked positions. This raises the counterweight 29 in the case 30' against the action of the spring 31, which latter is used to assist in lowering the counterweight and assuring the locking action of the levers when the handle 27 is released. Of course as will be understood, instead of being operated simultaneously, the operating mechanism may be so arranged as to unlocl; each dumb-Waiter door separately.

In some instances, it may be desirable to operate the latch locks hereinbe'fore described mechanically, but in other instances to operate these latch locks electrically. This may be done as diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 3 by employing a series of latch locks 32, one for each dumb-Waiter door together with an electro-magnet associated With each latch lock and-included in a circuit in Which there is also a push button 34 at the bottom of the Well and a suitably located battery 35. In this instance the electro-magnets are shown as connected in series, and of course Will operate all the latch loelrs simultaneously.

In still other instances, it may be desirable to operate the latch levers not only electri cally, but independently of each other, and a connection for so operating the latch levers is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 4;, in which of course there is a separate push button indicated at 36, 37, and 38 respectively for the latch levers illustrated. In these constructions also, it will be necessary to employ a spring or equivalent device for returning and maintaining the latch levers in their locked positions and such a spring is illustrated diagrammatically at 39 in both Figs. 3 and 1:

I claim as my invention:

1. In an apparatus of the class described, a plurality of dumbwaiter doors opening into a Well, a latch on the inner side of each dumbwaiter door, a lever arm pivotally mounted Within the said Well adjacent each dumbwaiter door and adapted to engage a corresponding latch to normally maintain the door in a locked position, a second lever arm for actuating the aforesaid lever arm, means for actuating the said second lever arm simultaneously from the bottom of the said Well to release the first aforesaid lever arms to simultaneously unlock the said dumbwaiter doors, and means for returning the said lever arms and normally maintaining the same in their initial positions to lock the said dumbwaiter doors.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a plurality of dumb-Waiter doors opening into a Well, a latch on the inner side of each dumb-Waiter door, a lever arm pivotally mounted Within the said Well adjacent each dumb-Waiter door and adapted to engage the corresponding latch to normally maintain the door in a locked position, a second 

